321. The Respect Effect: What Stereotype Threat Teaches Us About Communication

Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford social psychologist Claude Steele discusses stereotype threat and 'churn'—the tension that arises from

Key takeaways

• Stereotype threat occurs when individuals fear being judged based on negative stereotypes about their identity, affecting performance and long-term decisions.
• Social media can amplify stereotype threat by spreading quick, reductive images of identities, but also has potential to reduce it through positive representation.

Main topics

• Stereotype threat
• Churn (identity-based tension)

Notable quotes

"Everybody you interact with needs that signal of respect."

Conclusion

By recognizing stereotype threat and actively demonstrating respect through

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Hi, Matt here. I wanted to remind you that for each episode, we provide English language learning support, where we share useful information to help you develop your English skills. Check out these English language learning and other resources, along with our newsletter and deep dive videos at fastersmarter.io under resources. Now Speaker 1 (0:19) a word from our sponsors. Their support covers Speaker 2 (0:22) the cost of production, allowing us to bring you this episode free of charge. Speaker 2 (0:27) Strawberry.me makes coaching accessible, affordable, and global, connecting you with a coach who's the right fit for you. I've had the privilege of working with some truly great coaches, and I've also spent many years coaching others. And I can tell you firsthand, coaching makes a real difference. The challenge is that coaching has often felt out of reach for a lot of people. It can be expensive, difficult to access, or something people assume is only for senior executives. That's why I really appreciate what Strawberry.me is doing. Growth shouldn't depend on whether you happen to have access to the right mentor or organization. Everyone deserves support in becoming more effective, more thoughtful, and more confident in how they show up. Visit Strawberry.me slash smart and take 50 % off your first session. Make sure you let them know Matt sent you. That's strawberry.me slash smart. And now back to our conversation. Speaker 2 (1:26) One of the benefits of communication is it allows us to demonstrate that we truly see other people. My name is Matt Abrahams, and I teach strategic communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Welcome to Think Fast, Talk Smart, the podcast. Today, I look forward to speaking with Claude Steele. Claude is the Lucy Stern Professor and Social Scientist Emeritus at Stanford University. He's held several academic leadership roles, including Dean of Stanford's Graduate School of Education, and provost at both UC Berkeley and Columbia. He is widely recognized for his groundbreaking research on stereotype threat. And he is the author of Whistling Vivaldi and his latest book, Churn, the tension that divides us and how to overcome it. Speaker 1 (2:09) Well, welcome, Claude. I have been a long admirer of your work, Speaker 2 (2:12) and I'm so excited to have this conversation with you. Speaker 1 (2:14) I couldn't be happier to be here. It's been something I've been really looking forward to. Thank you. Are you ready to get started? I'm ready to go. Speaker 2 (2:21) All right. Well, I'd like to start with how I came to first know of you and your work as an undergraduate here at Stanford studying psychology. I learned about stereotype threat and found it not only interesting, but really important. I'd love for you to take a moment just to share with everybody what that is and the impact it can have on people. Speaker 1 (2:38) Yeah, it's a kind of social predicament that one can find oneself in. You're in a situation where There are negative stereotypes about one or another of your identity, your age, your race, your religion. And the stereotypes apply to what you're doing in that situation. You know then that you could be judged or treated in terms of that negative stereotype. And if the situation is important to you, that prospect is threatening. And that's what stereotype threat is. It's just finding yourself in a circumstance where... Boy, I'm the oldest guy here. Are they going to think all my ideas are dated and I have no technological competence at all? And those are stereotypes I know out there about age. And when I'm in a situation where they're applicable and if it's an important situation, I can worry about that. And that worry can affect my behavior right there in the immediate situation. If I'm trying to perform something, a standardized test where a lot of the research has been done or an athletic. activity or any kind of intellectual activity where the stereotype applies, it can have a pretty serious effect. It could motivate you to avoid that situation. So it can have real, pretty profound effects on our choices as well as our behaviors, who our friends are, where we want to live, what schools we want our children to go to, where we feel comfortable, where we don't feel comfortable. A lot of that would take the form of stereotype threat. Speaker 2 (4:03) Absolutely. It can impact us in the moment, but also long-term. I'm curious, how does social media impact and influence this kind of stereotype and stereotype threat? Speaker 1 (4:12) Well, I think its effectiveness, its dramatic effectiveness at purveying stereotypes and images of groups and images of different identities, I think it can amplify the number of situations that people feel this kind of threat in because its currency is in big part summary, quick. images of identities and people have no tolerance for any elaboration or exceptions. So it can be very generative of this kind of threat. I do think, though, it can sometimes purvey things that would reduce the threat, images that would reduce the threat. So it can cut both ways. But so much of the tenor of social media seems to be more of a negative sort. And that makes us all the more in a diverse society like the one in which we live. It makes us all more conscious of our identities and what people might think of us. So the whole phenomenon can be amplified by social media. Speaker 2 (5:08) So it can absolutely amplify. And I think it necessitates that as we consume social media, that we at least think about what are the stereotypes being communicated and how does that have impact on us? And by bringing that to consciousness might impact how we feel about it. Which leads me to the next question. I'm very curious to know, what are some of the most effective? and lasting interventions that can help mitigate stereotype threat and the negative impact from it. Speaker 1 (5:34) There's been an important evolution over the last couple of decades of research on that, probably for the most part in academic settings, but increasingly in business settings. In academic settings, you know, you have minority kids, let's say African-American kid, he's in an integrated classroom, which we think of as a very desirable thing, but he does know at some level. And his parents know